Chevrolet says it remains confident parent General Motors will repay the US taxpayer’s USD50bn bailout “completely” following the automaker’s recent return to Wall Street in one of the largest IPOs in history.
GM could raise up to USD23.1bn with its IPO that secured the company’s future and its Chevrolet division is bullish concerning the prospects of returning the loan to the American taxpayer.
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“We have every intention to pay down our debt completely and that is in the near term horizon,” Chevrolet Europe president Wayne Brannon told just-auto at this week’s launch of its Orlando MPV in Valencia, Spain.
“The vision of the company that people were attracted to [was] of a clear balance sheet and profits coming to the bottom line. The issue is that GM right now is earning between USD4bn and USD5bn this year – the industry is still depressed somewhat but it has still got a bit of headroom to grow.”
Stressing he was “especially proud” Chevrolet had played a small role in returning GM to the stock market, Brannon added the division would continue to build on its American heritage – though nearly all of its cars are Korean – to drive sales. “We will double our business in the next five to six years,” he said.
Brannon’s ambition is fuelled by Chevrolet’s plans to launch six new models next year – including the Orlando – the updated Captiva, Cruze five-door, redesigned Aveo and Canadian sourced Camaro.
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By GlobalData“As we look to what we are going to do with this car [Orlando] and with the other cars we are launching in 2011 – and of course the Volt [available UK 2012] – we have a product renaissance that is unlike anything I have seen in my career – which is 37 years,” said Brannon.
